Roots that uphold the tree
by r1ncewind1
Summary: When Naruto is six years old and enters the academy, danzo's root report that most instructors seem to sabotage his education/training. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, danzo orders one of his operatives to befriend the boy and start training him as a medic nin.
1. Chapter 1

Grey Danzo ie: Not traitor, hokage knows of ROOT program but not details.

Ne info:

General pool = Where Ne operatives not assigned to a specific section can be drawn from when needed. Placed in pool when training finished but before specific assignment.

Ne is divided into several sections, with a Head for each. Some sections consists of different 'commands'. For example: Information gathering section, Kumo command.

Sections:

Information gathering domestic/foreign

Information analysis

Assasination

Research/medical

Administrative

General Combat, including protection of bases inside Konoha.

Mei: Age 12 (when naruto 6), trained medic nin working at Konoha general hospital as cover while belonging to no specific command ( general pool)

_Root base 1, underground bunker._

"Report"

Sitting in his office in the primary command bunker for the ROOT Anbu forces of Konoha was one Shimura Danzo. Judging by his appearance it would be easy to tell that he himself was a veteran of shinobi wars. His right eye was covered by bandages as was his seemingly useless left arm, both of which had been severely injured when a mission against Iwa during the second shinobi world war had gone bad due to incorrect information about enemy numbers and speed of advance.

That was the day that had forever changed Danzo's career from a dedicated Anbu captain to the commander of the now officially disbanded Ne, or Root. In the beginning it had been a regular sub-division of ANBU, but upon the ascension of the third Hokage that had changed. While officially disbanding the division the two of them had come to an understanding. Danzo protected Konoha from the shadows, doing things that absolutely could not be associated to Konoha, while Hiruzen Sarutobi ran the village itself. That was how it had all started, but Ne had developed quite a bit since that time and was now rather diversified. Not only did they commit espionage- and assassinations on foreign soil, they also monitored the village itself for security leaks and other matters pertaining to village security.

"Hai, Danzo-sama." Opening up a folder, the black-dressed operative in front of him clears his throat, before starting his debriefing.

"Subject 9 under periodic observation, Uzumaki Naruto. Age 6. Reason for observation Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no kitsune. Potential flightrisk."

Danzo grumbles a bit at that. He had wanted to place the boy in the care of Ne to properly train him to be a weapon for the village, but Hiruzen would have none of it. The boy had so much potential and considering the somewhat tense situation of the village after the Kyuubi attack it had made perfect sense to train the boy as a weapon for the village; there was no way to recruit him into Ne now though.. Hiruzen would throw a fit and probably have him tortured for the location of the boy; he seemed to see him as his unofficial grandson, even though he barely had any time to see him.

"As you know, the subject started the academy two months ago. From our observation it seems like more or less all the instructors ignores his very existence, often sending him out of the class room for little to no reason. The subject seemed eager to learn but the hostility towards him combined with the fact that some of the instructors seems intent on sabotaging his education will in all likelihood lead to him more or less giving up. Or psychiatrist believe he will either become suicidal, try escaping the village or become violent against the villagers if nothing in the situation changes.

In particular the social isolation combined with lack of positive reinforcement from anyone except the occasional visit from Hokage-sama is deemed to be particularly detrimental for his mental health."

_Damn it all to hell! If this continues what could become a great asset for the village will be ruined, but what could be done to prevent this from continuing? If I try to befriend the boy at this time it would cause an uproar in the village and the hokage would never believe my intentions are good._

_I need something which will make sure he doesn't become mentally unstable.. The village really doesn't need an unstable jinchuriki which hates the village.. That could become disastrous!_

_Perhaps something which will also at least partially start turning public opinion in his direction as well.. I wonder.. Perhaps.. Yes, that just might work, it would give him something to work towards with many potential benefits as well._

"Crow, bring me operative Mei from the general pool" Danzo orders, his decision made for now.

"Hai, Danzo-sama" With that the operative, code name Crow exits the office letting Danzo return to his thoughts. The minutes tick bye on his clock while Danzo continues to ponder his decision. If everything turned out well, he was sure both him and the village would be served well by his action in the end. When about ten minutes had passed, the door opened up and in came operative Mei.

The Ne member was dressed in black, with her white blank mask attached to her hip. Mei was one of his younger operatives whom had just recently finished her basic Root training, she was not however a full time operative. No, she like several others had a part time job, mostly as a cover though all of them contributed to the greatness of Konoha even when they were not serving Ne directly. Mei's cover job was working at Konoha General hospital as a junior medic ninja, something especially fitting considering she was a fully qualified medic nin, despite her young age.

"Operative Mei present as ordered Danzo-sama" was answered by a short nod before gesturing for her to sit in the empty chair placed in front of his desk. When she was sitting down he slid the thin folder he had in front of him across the desk for her to pick up.

"In the folder you will find the report of academy student Uzumaki, Naruto. I have included the results from our observations of the boy as well as a psychiatric evaluation of him. As you will see when you study the file in more detail, the boy is dangerously isolated and has ended up in the hospital on numerous occasion after having been accosted by various citizens, most often civilians."

Letting that sink in before he continues, as well as giving himself time to evaluate her reaction before he continues, Danzo lets his eyes roam over his young operatives body. She was, of course, physically fit. Her body more geared towards agility, speed and endurance rather than strength; not strange since medic nin were supposed to avoid confrontation as much as possible, instead focusing on healing team mates to get them back in the fight. She had blond hair in a pony tail that reminded him of the Yamananka, though she certainly did not belong to that clan. She was also rather pretty and would probably become quite stunning when she grew older, certainly a candidate for seduction mission.

After having waited for the appropriate amount of time while her commander studied her, she finally speaks up.

"My orders, Danzo-sama?"

The older man actually blinks once in surprise, something he usually would never do. Most operatives would have waited no matter how long he kept silent, but then again he had not put her through the entire emotional conditioning program. In the beginning of Ne, every single ninja in the outfit had been put through mandatory emotional conditioning, but as the years went by he had realized his mistake.

The operatives that went through the entire program came out efficient, yes, but they lacked the ability to perform anything but pure assault missions. They were more valuable when they were able to think for themselves and improvise in the field without direct orders to do so. After a few incidents where a squad had pushed harder than they should resulting in needless casualties he had decided to lessen the conditioning; it was a fine line to walk. Enough to make sure they were effective in following orders, but not too much to turn them into drones.

"This will be a long term, albeit part-time mission. Your orders are as follows: You will befriend the subject whose folder you just received. This should be easy as he seems to crave attention due to the isolation he is currently in. Since his instructors seems to try to sabotage his training, you will encourage him to study medical ninjutsu as well as everything related to the subject on his free time. This will of course include a ridiculous amount of chakra control exercises as you can imagine due to his abnormally large chakra reserves. Your mission will be considered a success if, by the age of 10, or at the latest 11 he is able to certify himself as a medical ninja by taking the standard test at Konoha General Hospital."

At this Mei actually looks surprised. Sure, learning the necessary book knowledge required for a medical ninja in that time frame is not impossible, though surely not easy. Being able to get his chakra control to the level necessary to create medical chakra however, considering the amount of chakra he has thanks to his status as a jinchuuriki.. That would surely be nigh on impossible.

"Due to the high profile of the subject you will not contact me or anyone with in Ne's command structure until your mission is complete. You will instead apply for a full-time job at the hospital instead of your current part time job. Once Hokage-sama gets reports from Anbu that you have befriended young Naruto, and even more when he finds out that you are actually training him I have no doubt you will be under investigation, so do Not do anything to blow your cover. Leave all your assigned equipment in your locker in the general pool's barrack before you leave. Report back in four or five years when Uzumaki has managed to certify himself as a full medic nin. Dismissed."

With that he gestures for her to leave his office and manages to catch an irritated frown on her face as she stands up and walks out of his office. So, it seemed she did not agree with his decision.

Either she had negative feeling regarding the jinchuuriki or more likely she had been hoping for a more exciting assignment. If it was one thing Danzo disliked however, it was disrespect from those working for him. Pulling out Mei's folder he quickly writes down the order to transfer her from the general pool into the 'foreign information gathering section, seduction command' upon completion of her current mission.

Usually he would not let his emotions cloud his judgment, but she would surely be beautiful enough in four or five years, and he needed to remove her influence from the subject around that time anyway if the next phase of his plans would be able to proceed without disturbances.


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting alone on a swing in an otherwise empty park is a young boy. By the looks of him he is about five or six years old, dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of blue shorts with black ninja sandals on his feet. On the back of his t-shirt is the red swirl of Uzu which adorns all leaf headbands in the motif behind the leaf. He has sun-kissed hair and on his face are six faint whisker-like marks; three on each side of his face.

The reason he is sitting alone is that none of the other children wants to play with him.

He had walked to the park after his classes in the academy were done for the day. Today they had mainly had history lessons about the birth of Konoha as well as a small amount of physical training mainly consisting of running laps around the ninja academy to slowly start building up stamina.

During the first two years at the academy they focused almost entirely on academic study such as history, math, shinobi rules, some biology, language skills and so on. During that time they also introduced the students to physical activities such as running and doing push ups/sit ups to start getting the students used to training their bodies.

Naruto, as is the boy's name, had been really exited to start the academy and finally start on his way to become an awesome ninja like hokage-jiji, who was pretty much the only friend he had.

Today he had taken the courage to join some other kids playing in the park, but at soon as their parents recognized him they had almost panicked, shooting him angry looks while telling their children that they had to leave, whispering intently to them even before they were out of his sight.

Why did no one like him? Sure, he had played a few pranks, but not that many, and only on people who had been mean to him.. Maybe if he did some really big pranks that everyone could see some people would at least look at him?

"Hello there, do you also visit this park a lot?"

Snapping his head to the left he sees a girl sitting on the swing next to his. He had not even heard her walk there or sit down!

The girl had blond hair like he did but her's was a paler color and tied in a neat pony tail. She looked to be about twice his age or so, and was also very pretty. She was dressed in a white dress with flowers on the bodice; the dress reached about mid thigh and she had orange legwarmers under it. That was his favorite color!

But why would she talk to him? Almost no one did that..

"Umh.. Y-yeah.. I like the park" He answers, mumbling somewhat since he was not used to pretty girls starting to speak with him out of the blue, or for anyone to start up a conversation with him for that matter, except of course hokage-jiji when he came to visit about once a month.

"So, why aren't you playing with the other kids? It must be boring to sit here all alone." She asks, knowing full well why he was so lonely. Personally Mei really didn't understand how the people of the village could be so stupid as to compare him to the demon that was sealed within him, but then again not everyone had a solid grounding in sealing, and people tend to be irrational at times.

Ducking his head, Naruto feels the pain in his chest he always feel when he is reminded of how lonely he was, he just couldn't understand why everyone either ignored him or were mean to him!

Making a sound in his throat to clear away the sudden raw emotion in his voice he answers:

"no one likes me.. When I try to p-play with the other kids, their parents Always takes them away as soon as they see me!" He sniffles a bit at that.. It was really unfair!

Mei studies the boy while he talks while mentally going over the report she had read about him.. It seemed they were right on the money on this evaluation they had done on him. She had really not wanted this long term assignment. She had worked so hard to get through the Ne training as well as qualify as an official medic nin. no easy task either of them, and when she finally was looking forward to either be placed on an active field team as their medic or at the small hospital run by Ne, she had instead been given this rather boring long term mission which meant she would be entirely isolated from the entire Ne structure for four or five years!

Sure, she liked working at Konoha general hospital, but this was so not what she had been training for. Deciding to make the best of it she concentrated on the young boy with the sad expression on his face again.

"Well, have you considered doing something which would make more people like you?

Myself I was actually not born in this village and in the beginning some people didn't trust me but I did the best I could and now I have several good friends here" She states while watching his little face light up.

"R-really? What.. What did you do? Can you help me do the same thing?" He asks quickly with a hopeful expression on his face. It seemed her mission would be easier than she though. At least the beginning of it, but how she would manage to get his probably abysmal chakra control up to snuff she had no idea.

"Well, I work in the hospital making sick people or people who has been wounded on mission get better. Every time I help a ninja or civilian of Konoha feel better more and more people like me. Do you want to be a ninja or are you going to be a civilian?" She asks knowing his probable answer.

"I'm goin' to be the best ninja ever! Then no one will be mean to me anymore!" He almost yells with determination making her smile. He really was a precocious boy.

"Well, why don't you learn to become a medic ninja while you're at the academy, that way when you help people get better they will like you?"

The innocent and hopeful expression on his face almost breaks her heart knowing how she is manipulating him but she manages to keep a gentle smile on her face.. She was a trained root operative after all, and what she does could only help him in the long run even if it feels like her heart is breaking in two tricking the young boy with those big blue eyes.

He continues looking really happy for almost a minute while he is thinking about her suggestion before his face become sad again and he let's out a few sniffles.

"That.. That sounds like a really, really good idea but I can't.. The teachers never even answers my questions in class, they would never give me extra training and I bet it takes a whole lot of training to be a medic ninja.." He says dejectedly, his hope crushed all too soon, eyes focused on the ground in front of his feet which are dangling of the swing since he is not tall enough to reach the ground while on the swing.

"Well.. Maybe I can help you. I do know how it feels when people around you doesn't trust you.. But if I help you, you must promise to work very hard at the lessons I give you. It will be very difficult, both everything you have to read as well as a lot of exercises that you will have to do. Can you do that, can you work very hard and give it all that you have?" Mei asks while smiling at the boy. If the psych profile on him was correct he would jump at a chance to learn something, anything that would make people like him. Especially since the academy instructors wouldn't even answers his questions, even though he had only been at the academy for a little over two months.

Naruto looks up from his feet, beaming at the pretty girl next to him that offered to help him become a medic ninja.. That was much more than the teachers at the academy had ever done!

Jumping up he immediately swings around and crushes her into a hug while almost crying.

"I promise to study hard, please, please teach me neechan!" He exclaims while sniffling.

Mei on her part has to force herself to not defend herself when she is suddenly glomped by the little blonde and smiles over his head.

"That's great... I bet you will be a very good ninja one day." She says while patting his back until he calms down. When he is calm enough and releases her from the hug she takes out a rather thick scroll from a pouch she has on her back, just above her waist.

"This is a scroll about basic anatomy, that means a scroll that has information and pictures about what the body is made out of. It is only the basics though, but it is still a lot to learn all the names to all the bones in the body, as well as all the major muscles and blood vessels."

Naruto immediately snatches the scroll from her and opens it open, noticing it is rolled up tight and probably has a lot more information than he at first thought. While he is looking at the scroll Mei continues.

"If you study that really hard and learn all of it, I will see you here again in six weeks and make sure you learned it all. If I am satisfied that you know it well enough I will give you a new scroll with more for you to study. The next one will be about all the organs in the body. Where they are, what they look like and what they do. Do you promise to study the scroll really hard?" She asks, already seeing that he seems totally occupied by the scroll, making her roll her eyes.

"I promise, neechan! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He says while hugging her again.

"Very well.. I will see you here in the park again in six weeks then.. Now, before I leave my name is Mei and I work at the hospital.. What's your name?" She asks, mentally slapping herself for forgetting to introduce herself in the first place.

"Oh.. Sorry, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna be the best ninja ever!" He exclaims while punching the air in triumph over finally getting someone that would teach him how to be a great ninja.

"Allright then Naruto.. Good luck with your studies and I will see you again here in six weeks."  
He says while smiling at him before walking off, her ponytail swaying across her back as she makes her way out of the park, mentally patting herself on the head for a job well done.


End file.
